Blessing leaves

As Thanksgiving approaches, we are reminded to focus on the things in our lives for which we are thankful, the blessings we have received. After reading K's November issue of Clubhouse Jr. we were inspired by one story to make our very own blessing leaves. These are simply construction paper cut-outs in leaf shapes (preferably fall colors) that we have written one thing for that we are thankful for. My original idea was to have the children dictate to me one thing to write down on a leaf each evening and then place it in a basket, but once we got started, we couldn't stop. We filled up each leaf in one night. These are just a few of the things that K and D are thankful for: the moon and stars, the sun, outer space, flowers, trees, leaves, cousins, friends to play with, a bedroom to play in, toys, mommy, daddy, L, books to read, school and the list goes on and on. I highly recommend this activity for those of you with children (it isn't bad for adults too- although you could skip the leaf part and just make a list) because it gets us to focus on what is good, and how we are so blessed in so many ways. I am also thinking that I will pick out a leaf or two each night and make sure that I thank God for the blessing listed as we pray together at dinner.